Apparatus for freight transference.



G. E. TITOOMB.

APPARATUS FOR FREIGHT TRANSFERENGE.

APPLICATION FILED APEHZ, 1912.

Patented Aug. 18, 1914,

5 SHE ETSSHEET 1."

G. E. TITGOMB. APPARATUS FOR FREIGHT TBANSFBRENCE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 2, 1912. I

Patented Aug. 18, 19M.

5 SHEET$SHEET 2.

a Mme-m? o dim Patented Aug. 18, 1914,

5 SHEETS-SHEBT 3.

J's w G. E. TITGOMB. APPARATUS FOR FREIGHT TRANSPERENGE.

a APPLIOATION FILED .APILZ, 1912. L1 91,6? 80,

G. B. TITGOMB;

APPARATUS FOR FREIGHT TRANSPEBENOE.

APPLICATION TILED APR. 2, 1912. 1,107,378 Patented Aug.18,1914,

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

I U a e w G. E. TITCOMB.

APPARATUS FOR FREIGHT TRANIS'FERBNGE.

' 4 APPLICATION FILED APR. 2, 1912. 1 1 9 1 O7, 378'. Patented Aug. 18,1914.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

Hh H HHHHH w Hu a UNITED STATES PATENT 'EOFFICE.

enonen E; TITCOMB, or NEW ROCHELLE, NEW Yonm APPARATUS FOR FREIGHTTBANSFERENGE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E; TrrooMB.

' fa citizen'of' the United States, andresident of New Rochelle, in thecounty of Vestjcliester and State of New York, have in:

vented certain "ments in Ap aratus for Freight Transfer ence, of whicnew and useful Improve- 'theentire invention forming, asit were, a

straight line system of freight transference.

'In systems heretofore known for this same general purpose,

traveling trucks were used,

running on overhead tracks and, of course,

- limited in their movement to the location of the tracks. Complicatedpower distributing arrangements and extensive switching devices wererequired in such cases. The necessity of having numerous trucks travelunidirectionally over the same track, caused a standstill of all thetrucks, wheneverone truck was stopped for the purpose of loading orunloading.

' The system forming the subject matter of i the present invention ischaracterized by its great flexibility, inasmuch as an operating flooris provided, entirely separated from the warehouse or storage floor orfloors, and

' adapted for the free movement thereon of under the continuous'hatchways, vided near a shipping pier,

traveling trucks. in every direction.

Among other'objects of the invention is the provision of a storage orwarehouse, having; one or'more stora'ge floors and an operating floor. Aseries of, usually closed hatchways is arranged on a so-called run wayof the operating floor, and a series of continuous, normally open,hatchways, having channel rails or tracks contiguous thereto, isarranged the operating floor.

The floor under the runway of the operating floor,'is providedwith'railr'oad tracks for stalling freight cars. The floor or floors maybe diinto storage eompartmentsv-The storage house is preferably locatedon or so that fi eight to. and

from cars or ships may be handled and'distributed or stored in thebuilding.

on the remaining portion of Specification of Letters Patent. I PatqyfitdA 01. 1914 Application filed'April 2, 1912. Serial No. 687,991.

A traveling tower forms another feature 'of this invention and isdistinguishedby an overhanging platform or boom,iont'o which thetraveling trucks are runf'The toweritself is moved along the pierline onsuitable tracks so that its boom coincides with the hatchways of avessel, located alongside the pier. The truck on the overhanging boomdrops the load, taken from a railroad car or a storage compartment, intothe hatchway of the ship. I

A system of overheadconductors is 'arranged for the purpose ofdistributing electrical energy over substantially any part of theoperating floor, so as to move the trucks all over the floor and hoistorlower a load of merchandise wherever such trucks may be located.

A system of apparatus of the. forementioned general description ispeculiarly adapted for handllng large amountsof mere chandise andfreightwithgreater economy I in time and labor than inany analogoussy'sf' tern heretofore in use.

The accompanyingdrawings illustrating the invention in one of its formsshow in Figure 1, a side elevation and partly a seetion of a portion-ofa warehouse 'anda vessel adjacent thereto, comprising the main featuresof this invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the operating floor, at areduced scale, on line A-A of Fig. 1. 3 is a detailed plan view ofthetraveling-tower shown in Fig. 1. Figs. 4 and 5 are details ofconstruction of the operating mechanism of the traveling tower. Fig. 6is an enlarged detail showing the arrangement of the closedand openhatchways of theoperating floor. Fig. 7 is a view on line B B of Fig. 1,showingthe arrangement of the conductors for the distribution ofelectrical energy. Fig. 8 are details of construction of the closedhatchways." Figs: 9 and 10 are a plan view and an elevation,respectively, of a traveling truck. 1

The general views, Figs; 1 and 20f the drawing, illustrate astoragehouse located on the corner of a shipping pier and adapted to directlyreceive merchandise from or deliver to railroad ears or floatingvessels.

The main storage floor is represented at 1, on which car platforms 2 areprovided adja cent to car tracks 3 so that freight cars i may be stalledthereon and loaded and 'unloaded in the usual manner! The balance-of themai floor 1,'ma'y be'used for storage storage compartments 6'. Thewarehouse may also have more; than one storage floor.

., "and these located at different 'levels,'-all how:

ever, accessible from the one 0 era-ting floor, as fjheremafterf more,-f ull'y es'cribed. A. floating vessel,- such a's'a steamer 7-,-barg'e,

etc., is shown fastened; to the pier and hav fletoragefr compartments.-The" part: a of the floor,---located overthef' railroad tracks vforms arunway 10, of: preferably steel or rein-1 forced concrete construction,having a series of normallyclosed ha tc,hwayls 11 conven iently.arranged over the car tracks 3 and-the Q atform 2 and provided' with.hatchway r P, covers 12410 close the hatchways;

' x The hatchwaycovers l2 are'p rovidedwith annular rims. 3 made .of'channeliron and .restin-gnpon==brackets ,114 of] th'e floor'constructlonof. the operating. floor and are in:

. tendedltob'e removed by means ofthe hoist,

mg devices of the travelingtrucks, as will bedescribed farther below. Inorder to pre- 7 vent accidents when the hatchways. 11 arekept'opem'guards 15 are inserted -into the hatchways comprising ringsmade of channel; iron iresting upon the brackets'l l and extending abovethe level of the floor-so that "the wheels of the traveling-trucksmoving on the operating'fioor are prevented from slipping off into thehatchways. v 1

The portions of the operatingfioor, 10'- ca'ted above the storage floorsshow continuone hatchways 16 provided with channel iron guards or rails17, adjacent to the hatch ways and substantially parallel to thelongitudinal axes" thereof. These rails prevent the truck wheels fromsliding into the open hatchways. The hatchways over the storage 45. I

" suitable covers, if so desired.

compartments may obviously be closed, by

In the process of loading and unloading vessels, docked at the shippingpier, a traveling tower 18. is used, clearly shown in detail and itsrelation to the warehouse and the vessel, in Figs. 1, 2 and Asubstantially vertical frame 19 extend- 5 ing suitably above the roof ofthe entire 5 building, has rollers or wheels 20 to support the frame 19andpermit its-travel on conven'ient tracks 21 of the runway 10. Ahorizontal frame work 22, at right angles to frame 19, extends over thefront portion of the storage house and carries a series of rollers orwheels 23 at its rear end and adapted totravel ontracks-24 of theroof'of the building. Suitable struts 25 connect the upper end of' theframe 19 with the rear end of the frame 22 so as-to form a rigid and jsubstantial structure. on which: a counte roof; A suitable clutchmechanism connects to t bia-7 weight26'oveseomes and balances any strainalong its-tracks, or' lifting or lowering the overhanging boom.

The' machinery for moving the tower 18 is v M 'illustrated in Figs. 3, 4and 5 and comprises The lg 'rating fl oor[9. extends on, one of'the'fupper. floors, throughout theentire building over the {railroad tracks,aslwelll as-over the aprimary motor 28 transmitting motion through'ashaft-.29 and convenient gears to la second shaft 30 and a-set of bevelgears 31 then to a third shaft 321and-through-a sec ond set of bevelgears 33 to a vertical shaft 34:. ",Anotherset of bevel gears 35, causesthe wheels 20, to trav'el on the track 21. A set of'lntermeshlng gears36 on the rear end of shaft- '32,'Fig. 5, cause acorresponding movementof the wheels 23 on the track 24 of'the or disconnects the entireoperating mechanism from its. primary motor, so that either the-towermaybe caused to travel along its tracks, as forthwith will bedescribed,or the overhanging. boom, may be raised soas to clear the rigging of avessel docked at the v pier. For this" latter purpose a pair of cables30 run from-the hoisting drums 37 of. the power mechanism 27 over aroller 38 at the upper. end of the beam 19to a roller 39 at theouter endof the upper boomframe 40.

This boom is pivoted to-the main frame at its inner end and connectingrods 41, 42, carry the lower boom frame 43' which is pivoted at itsinner end in a similarmanner as the upper boom. The entire boom,therefore, represents a parallelogram pivoted at the rear ends of thebooms 40 and 43 and, in 'its raised position, indicated; dotted lines,in Fig. 1 receiving additional security when overhanging by the toggledtie rods The traveling truck 46 is shown in detail in Figs. 9 and 10 andcomprises a stationary platform 47 forming a rectangular central openingl8 in the bottom of the truck, through which, by means of a movableplatform 49, loads may be raised or lowered.

The platform .47, by means of suitable b arings 50,-rests upon theaxles51, having wheels 52, to run freely on the operating floor. To oneof-the shafts 51, rotation is imparted from a motor 53 through asuitable transmission, such asgears or achain, .and.

the wheels on this shaft are swiveled, as shown at 54,. and steered bya'steeringgear 55, controlled the truck. I

The hoisting machinery comprises a primary motor 53, atransmission.device56 and the hoistingdrums 57. The hoisting cable 58,..runningjovercable roller-s59, 60, is ac cured .tofthemovahle 'platform 4:9, wherebyby the'operator or driver ofinto theibody ofthje truck and,aiterftravelv of the operating -'thereon or the "holdoif a vessel dockedtheiea't. i Q

" like princip hoisting truck-consists in'lii'ting a load from in}; anydesired distance, depositing the same "against and to a pQintbBlQWthefioo'r'of the truck, without requiring more floor space floor than theactual size of thetruck'.

Devices of a similar character, heretofore in use, required theemployment ofaswi'nging boom for lifting-and lowering a load,occupying,- therefore} considerable 'fioor space outside ofthetruckand'causin g frequent collisions between thetraveling unlessextremecare was used, to prevent the sa ne. A contact device or currentcollector 61 is heldagainst the electrical conductors 62 by the usualtension device and supplies electrical energy necessary for theoperation of the motors on; the truck;

The system of electrical conductors Fig. 7,

for the supply of current to the motors'of the traveling trucks,comprises a set of substantially parallel-overhead wires or bars 61,another similar set of the same 62 at right angles thereto andconductors 63 located above the open hatchways 16 and conductors .64;forthe overhanging booms of the travel-.

ing tower 18. The distance between the conductors is such that thecurrent collectors of the traveling trucks are in contact with theconductors in whatever position on the. operating floor they may be and,thereby enabling the truck to travel in any desired dimotion on thefloor What applicant regards as his invention or'discovery and desiresto secure by Letters Patent of the United. States is- 1. The combinationZvi'th a building, of one or more storage floors, an operating floor,hatchways on said operating floor leading to said storage floors,traveling'trucks adapted to move loads on said operating floor andthrough said hatchways from and onto said storage floors, a power deviceon al feature I of this automobile trucks,

' each of said trucks,;and means adapted to supply electric energy tosaid power devices in any location on said operating fioor.

2. The 1combination-with one or more storage floors, 03: an operatingE1001 located.

parallel to said -stmragefloors, a series oi iatchways on said operatingfloor and 163ding to said storage floors, trucks freely traveling onsaid operating floor adapt ed to move loads through said hatchways .iromand onto any part of said storage iioors, a power device on each of saidtrucks,

andv a series of stationary electrical condnctors capable of supplyingcurrent to said. power-devices in any iooation on said. operat ingdoors.

said operating floor giving access to said railroad tracks and storagecompartments, traveling trucks adapted to freely move loads on saidoperating floor and through said hatchways from'and onto said railroadtracks and storage compartments, a power device on each of said trucks,and means adapted to supply electric energy to said power devices in anylocation on said operating floor.

4. The-combination with a building, of one or more storage. floors, anoperating floor, hatchways on said operating floor leading to saidstorage floors, a traveling tower movable along said building, anoverhanging boom on said tower, trucks adapted to travel on. saidoperating floor and said boom and to move loads thereon and through saidhatchways from and onto said storage floors, a power deviceon each" ofsaid trucks, and means adapted to supply electric energy to said powerdevices in any location on said operating floor and said boom.

In witness whereof the inventor has hereunto set .his name in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses, at New York, in the county of NewYork, this 25th day of March 1912.

RALPH J. SAonEns, GERTRUDE M. GRINDLAY.

York and State of New

